228 The Amateur Poacher 



The sight of a paper kite in the air makes them 

 motionless till forced to rise ; and there was an old 

 dodge of ringing a bell at night, which so alarmed the 

 covey that they remained still till the net was ready, 

 when a sudden flash of light drove them into it. 

 Imagine a poacher ringing a bell nowadays ! Then, 

 partridges were peculiarly liable to be taken ; now, 

 perhaps, they escape better than any other kind of 

 game. Except with a gun the poacher can hardly 

 touch them, and after the coveys have been broken up 

 it is not worth his while to risk a shot very often. If 

 only their eggs could be protected there should be 

 little difficulty with partridges. 



Pheasants are more individual in their ways, and 

 act less together ; but they have the same habit of 

 running instead of flying, and if a poacher did but 

 dare he could take them with nets as easily as possible. 

 They form runs through the woods — just as fowls will 

 wander day after day down a hedge, till they have 

 made quite a path. So that, having found the run 

 and knowing the position of the birds, the rest is sim- 

 plicity itself The net being stretched, the pheasants 

 were driven in. A cur dog was sometimes sent 

 round to disturb the birds. Being a cur, he did not 

 bark, for which reason a strain of cur is preferred to 

 this day by the mouchers who keep dogs. Now that 



